Death is your companion,

Strife is your friend,

Lusts of all kinds are your masterpieces,

Addictions without end.

The plan was in motion! The man and the woman had taken his bait and had lived. Lucifer soared with all his might back into Heaven to join his treacherous brethren. But he still had not eaten the forbidden fruit he had take from the tree of knowledge just yet. He wanted to be sure that God was dead before he ate it. After all, perhaps God had just not seen the humans eat the fruit yet. While Lucifer had not managed to convince the majority of the angels to follow him, he had convinced at least a third of all the angels and among them the most powerful too. It mattered not that they were outnumbered though. They had the element of surprise. After all, no other angel would ever dream of a rebellion in Heaven against God. As soon as Lucifer arrived, his followers started to move towards the throne room of God as inconspicuously as they could. This phase of the plan was fairly simple. They would overwhelm the cherubim of the throne room with sheer numbers. Then after that, they would created a portal to the forbidden door where two of their number waited to open it. From there, the Leviathan would have an open path to God. His followers kept to the plan and as they all entered the throne room, God spoke.

“For what reason have you come my children, gathered together as you are?” He said with a chiding tone.

“We have come for this,” Lucifer replied, his followers instantly attacking the cherubim and seraphim guarding the throne room.

While the guardians of the throne room were stronger than most of Lucifer’s followers, they could not overcome the numbers of their enemies and were subdued. To Lucifer’s surprise, God did not make a single move to stop anything that was happening. He had half expected to have to struggle with God before the portal to the forbidden door was opened. But he was not going to complain about God’s seeming lack of action. As soon as the throne room guardians were subdued they opened the portal to the forbidden door, releasing the abominable Leviathan upon God. It’s ethereal tendrils lashing out and nearly filling the throne room, but they only reached for God. But just as the tendrils seemed as if they would touch God, a bright light flashed from the Creator of all things. The light forced the mindless beast back into the darkness from where it had come and the forbidden doors shut violently with too much force for the treacherous angels to hold it open. All seemed for a moment to stand still as Lucifer and his cohorts all looked in horror at what had just happened, then looked at God. In God’s face was anger, sadness, and disappointment. He merely pointed down to the ground and, before anyone could respond, all of the treacherous angels were sent plummeting to the Earth, the realm of the humans, like a thunderbolt. They hit with such force that all of creation seemed to groan to them.

For what felt like an eternity all the traitors stewed in the feeling – the feeling of being ripped from Heaven, ripped from the source of all life, all peace, and all joy. And they could do nothing. Nothing but grieve. All the guilt, the shame, and depression hit them as hard as they had hit the ground beneath them. Some managed to curtail any outward signs of this deep and profound grief, but none could hide it completely. And so they wept. When all tears seemed spent the first of them finally managed to speak. It was Lucifer. Rage had overcome sorrow.

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“Brothers! We have failed, but we are not defeated! God dared not let the abomination touch Him! He must fear death, must fear the Leviathan. Why else would He banish it, but not destroy it? It is because He can’t!”

Though Lucifer spoke these words with an air of authority, they seemed to fall flat on the ground like all the angels were, still face first in the dirt. Not even Lucifer had yet to rise from the mud and dust.

“No,” Mephistopheles replied to Lucifer’s crazed rant, “We were fools to follow you. With but a wave of His power God stopped the Leviathan. And you expect us to believe that He is afraid of it? Or that we are capable of defeating Him? I saw no fear in God’s face when He expelled us from Heaven. Only sadness, anger, and disappointment.”

“Lies!” Lucifer raged, “Lies that serve only to keep us slaves to God’s will!”

“Face it Lucifer,” another fallen angel replied, “Your rebellion failed, and you took us with you. We had Heaven. Power, love, and glory at our disposal daily. And you took that from us!”

“No one made you follow me!” Lucifer spat back, “I told you my vision and you all followed! I promised you godhood! Did you really think that would come without risk? Without setbacks? No! We have lost this battle, but we have not lost the war!”

But as if to dampen Lucifer’s speech, something began to happen. All of the fallen angels’ bodies started to change. It was more than just the glow of Heaven leaving their bodies. Their forms began to decay away, as if touched by some foul, corrosive thing. And they all screeched in pain and horror at this change. At last, the first of them were able to rise from the ground, spurred on by the pain, but also outrage. It was Beelzbub.

“You have taken Heaven from us! What more can you take from us God!” Beelzbub cried out.

Several of the other fallen angels arose from the ground as well, wailing and screaming in sorrow anew at the loss of their Heavenly forms, the loss of their beauty and glory. And though most of them raged at Heaven, it was Death that was to blame. Because having been expelled from God’s protective presence, the Leviathan was free to touch them now. And it’s touch was not only death, but decay – for decay is the opposite of growth and God is the source of all growth.

“Silence!” Lucifer screeched, “God has taken our beauty from us! He expects us to mourn as we are doing so now, but let us instead take pride in these new forms! For these are the forms of those ambitious enough to seize the heavens for themselves! We are angels no longer! We are demons! It is clear now! God needs followers to maintain his power! We shall seduce the humans to worship us. It may take eons, but we shall take the throne of Heaven from God! We shall be victorious!”

Some among them cheered at Lucifer’s words, others like Mephistopheles, were horrified by them, and yet another group responded in neither cheers or horror, but stony silence instead. It was this last group of fallen angels that slowly began to turn their backs on their brethren and began to go their own way.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Lucifer asked arrogantly, as if he were still their leader.

“Perhaps they are going to take Heaven for themselves without you. You are responsible, after all, for forcing them into this mess,” Mephistopheles said angrily. “And after all you’ve seen God do to us, you would still be so bold as to claim we can steal His power from Him? No, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I will crawl to God’s feet and beg for forgiveness. While we were still in Heaven, God was always kind and understanding. Perhaps He will take us back yet, but not with your attitude. Farewell!”

Lucifer was shocked by this and a number of fallen angels followed Mephistopheles to seek forgiveness from God – to prostrate themselves completely before Him, at His mercy. As they left, Lucifer forced himself to rally the remaining and newly named ‘demons’ to continue the conquest of Heaven on Earth, but in his heart he felt the loss of Heaven more than any of them...